


A Life Lesson in Hugs

by trinketchu



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Holding Hands, Hugging, Multi, basically all of the kinks, genuine love and affection, honestly Grog just needs more love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 10:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7637320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinketchu/pseuds/trinketchu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pike and the rest of Vox Machina are very affectionate. It takes Grog a little while to get used to it. aka the fight son gets hugged</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Life Lesson in Hugs

Grog Strongjaw hadn’t been one for hugging in the past. In his youth, most expression was done with his fists, fighting with other young goliaths to establish his place in the herd. The herd didn’t have room for softness and affection; it needed to create warriors, not targets. On rare occasions, after a particularly good fight, there might have been an arm slung around his shoulders and a pint of ale shoved into his hand. Generally though, touches in the Herd of Storms were intended to harm, not soothe.

When Grog met Pike, he was confused by her soft touch, the divine energy that took away pain rather than inflicting it. It would have been so easy for her to kill him, despite her small size, but she had saved him instead. Grog had never been very smart, but he could usually understand people well enough. People wanted food, ale, thrilling battles, and someone in their bed. This little gnome, however, didn’t seem very interested in those things (except the food, she made really fancy food, much better than the meat they ate in the herd). She let him stay in her house and healed him up because, she said, he had been kind to Wilhand. Grog didn’t quite understand that. He’d been weak, but she didn’t seem to see it that way. She was a little bit crazy, his Pike, but he liked her more than anyone he’d ever met before. So, when he was finally up and out of bed and she jumped straight into his arms, Grog hugged her back just as tightly.

A while after he met the rest of his family, their relationship began to change. Pike had tried to explain it to him (“Grog, we’ve all been talking about our relationship, right?” “Yeah, and I don’t really get it. We loved each other before, right? So I just don’t get what changed.” “Grog, we’re all together now, as long as that’s what you want.” “But we’ve been together for like a year already.”) After that, the group began to act differently. He noticed people hugging more and holding hands and all that other mushy stuff. Even weirder was when people started to hug him all the time. Keyleth would hold his hand and pull him outside because “Look! Grog, my garden is in bloom!” Vex would pull him into a hug at random parts of the day, ending them with a wink, a kiss on the cheek, and a “thanks, darling” but her face kind of did a thing where she looked a bit sadder than she sounded. Vax would often walk up to him at the end of a stressful day and immediately wrap himself around him, not speaking. Grog hugged him back because he seemed pretty upset, but he didn’t really understand why Vax was with him. After a few minutes, Vax usually pulled away and left without a word. Even Scanlan became more affectionate in more subtle ways. He would lean up against Grog’s side or occasionally climb up to ride on Grog’s shoulders as they walked.

Percy didn’t change at first, though. He tended to keep a respectable distance from everyone, unless someone pulled him closer. Despite this, Grog noticed that he always looked really tense when he was distanced from them, like he was just before a battle. After particularly long days, when Scanlan didn’t have the energy to summon his mansion, they all tended to sleep clustered together in camp, even Percy. Grog had never been all that perceptive, but even he could see that Percy didn’t sleep well. He rolled and mumbled and woke up a lot. Sometimes Vex or Keyleth would notice and pull him into a hug, but, if they hadn’t, Grog would do it himself. Tucked securely into his chest, Percy’s face would smooth out and he’d settle down again.

As he lay together with his family, Pike’s tiny body curled around his arm and Percy hugging his waist, Grog felt a surge of protective instinct. Without this strange group of mismatched people and their strange camaraderie with him, he might have gone his whole life only wanting food, ale, thrilling battles, and someone in his bed. Though he couldn’t exactly describe what it was he had now, it was better.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fic I've ever posted?? (except some kind of fics on tumblr) so I hope people liked it?? I am also trinketchu on tumblr if you want to hit me up there.


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